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Shakeyfly has attached this picture to aid in identification. The message is below.
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This is resized, I hope it isn't too large/small
This is resized, I hope it isn't too large/small
ShakeyflyApril 27th, 2009, 3:43 pm
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
Hello all, I have been watching this sight closely for a while now, and Everyday I learn something new. Unfortunately, I can contribute very little!! but I happened to photograph a bug just now on the screen to my window. Can you please help me identify it? I thought it was a March Brown Dun (stenonema-vicarium), but possible a Quill Gordon(epeorus-pleuralis)? I got the latin names from Hatch Guide For New England Streams, but not sure which one it is!!

Thank you all for your help, I hope the picture posts nicely.
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws
GONZOApril 27th, 2009, 3:54 pm
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
Hi Shakey,

This is a female Callibaetis dun (probably C. f. ferrugineus). These distinctive members of Baetidae are usually most common in ponds and lakes, though some can be found in streams.
ShakeyflyApril 27th, 2009, 5:19 pm
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
Wow was I off!! I am checking out my book right now to see what fly I can match it too! Thanks!
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws
ShakeyflyApril 27th, 2009, 6:17 pm
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
It's weird because this new england hatch guide doesn't mention Callibaetus or speckled duns
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws
GONZOApril 27th, 2009, 6:43 pm
Site Editor
"Bear Swamp," PA

Posts: 1681
Yeah, unless you have a coldwater trout pond or lake nearby, they're not very important. (And Ames' book is a guide to New England streams.) Callibaetis species get a lot of attention on Western trout lakes, but they often tend to be ignored in the East.
TaxonApril 27th, 2009, 6:45 pm
Site Editor
Royse City, TX

Posts: 1350
Shakefly-

That's because most hatch guides are for streams, and as Gonzo indicated, only in lakes are Callibaetis generally present in sufficient number to interest trout.
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com
ShakeyflyApril 27th, 2009, 6:45 pm
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
oooo That makes sense. I do not have a lake really close by... maybe about 2 miles away, but it was just interesting that a lot of people focus on them in the west but not in the east.

The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws
ShakeyflyApril 27th, 2009, 6:53 pm
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
Thanks guys!! I am new to the entomology of our favorite passtime. I am learning tons!! Thank you!
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws
TaxonApril 27th, 2009, 10:16 pm
Site Editor
Royse City, TX

Posts: 1350
Shakeyfly-

I do not have a lake really close by... maybe about 2 miles away


Perhaps I should have said still water, like even a neighbor's goldfish pond, etc.
Best regards,
Roger Rohrbeck
www.FlyfishingEntomology.com
TroutnutApril 28th, 2009, 2:30 am
Administrator
Bellevue, WA

Posts: 2737
Welcome to the site, Shakeyfly.

I don't have much to add about your mayfly; the others covered it well. But I did want to comment on a general way of thinking about books like the Hatch Guide. A lot of people seem to refer to them to look up a mayfly, then get baffled when it doesn't quite look like anything in the book.

The Hatch Guide is a really impressive book, but it's not a comprehensive field guide to every bug you might find. It covers the main hatches that provide good hatch-matching fishing in the region. Go to a gas station by a trout stream on any given night, though, and you'll find the lights have probably attracted at least a dozen mayfly, stonefly, and caddisfly species that aren't in the book. There are hundreds of obscure species throughout the year that aren't worth mentioning individually in such a book, but combined they make up a decent proportion of any stream's hatches.

The message is that you can rely on a book like that to identify the selected common insects it includes, but a fly's seeming absence from the book doesn't mean you've made a mistake... it's probably just not in there, and you should post it here.

VERY nice artistic photo on this one, by the way!
Jason Neuswanger, Ph.D.
Troutnut and salmonid ecologist
ShakeyflyApril 28th, 2009, 8:09 am
Massachusetts

Posts: 11
I am definitely learning that the guide is exactly what it is... a guide! Not a tell all book!

I wanted to say how impressive this site trully is. The pictures and people on it are amazing!!

I found that little Callibaetis on my window screen. I am not a photographer by any means, so I changed the setting to Flowers, focused in close, and clicked! It's now my desktop background!

The interesting thing about this bug, was how little it moved. It let me touch it and everything without moving! I think it was trying to dry it's wings maybe?
The fishing was good; it was the catching that was bad - A.K. Best

Catching fish is as incidental to fishing as making babies is to #$%&ing. ~William Humphrey

Here's to swimmin' with bow legged women. - Jaws

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